O what is that sound reading journal

Title analysis:
O what is that sound. Surely there should be a question mark at the end of that title? I'm not one to go around thinking that i'm better than well respected and published poets, though, so there must be a reason that ol' Wystan Hugh Auden decided against a question mark. I suggest that it might be because, despite being asked in the first two lines of the poem ("O what is that sound which so thrills the ear / Down in the valley drumming, drumming?") it isn't really a question that needs asking. The person asking the question already knows the answer, they already know that the sound is "drumming", so why ask the question? I believe this is because the first person wants to keep the second person calm and to a certain extent, themselves calm. These reassuring questions continue until stanza seven.

Storyline synopsis:
Two people see some soldiers "down in the valley" with complete soldier "gear". As the soldiers walk towards them, the first person, who I believe to be the second person's wife (i'll explain why later), keeps asking the second person hopeful questions, such as whether or not it's "the parson they want". When, inevitably, it turns out that the soldiers were actually heading straight for our heroes, the second person tries to run away and the soldiers break the gate and splinter the door with burning eyes. Ruh roh! Raggy!!

Voice:
There are plainly two voices used in this poem, one asking questions and the other answering them. For the first three stanzi, these questions are answered in a reassuring manner starting with "only" as in, when asked "O what is that sound which so thrills the ear / Down in the valley drumming, drumming?" our friend Mr. 2 responds "Only the scarlet soldiers, dear / The soldiers coming." In a reassuring manner. We know that there are both two people and that they are a married couple from stanza eight, where Mrs. 1 (or Mrs. Wife as I shall call her from now on) addresses Mr. 2 (or Mr. Husband as he shall now be known [Mrs. Wife kept her maiden name, OK]), asking him to "stay with" her and whether "the vows" he swore were "deceiving". Another clue that Mr. Husband and Mrs. Wife must indeed be husband and wife is in the responses of Mr. Husband. After his first sentence in every stanza, he gives the term of affection "dear". This, along with Mrs. Wife's mention of their vows makes me assume that the two voices are those of a husband and a wife. The last thing there is to point-out about the voice of this poem is that, in the final stanza, there seems to be only one voice; that of Mrs. Wife. In all eight of the other stanzas, Mrs. Wife first asks a question before it is answered by Mr. Husband, but in this final, ninth stanza, a question is never asked as instead, Mrs. Wife simply describes the soldiers as they enter into the building, having all four lines to herself.

Miscellaneous points: 

• The poem is written in the present tense in the third person and is told solely through speech.
• The rhyme scheme is a simple ABAB affair.
• The poem is subjective, meaning that it is coloured with the emotions of the characters. From the curiosity and reassurance of the first three stanzas to the fright expressed in the last, the whole ballad is quite emotional.
• Yes, this poem is in ballad form with four lines per stanza, or a "quatrain".
• The language used throughout is relatively simple, with very few long words, as if to suggest that Mrs. Wife and Mr. Husband were simple, innocent folk. This illusion is shattered in the penultimate stanza, however, when Mr. Husband leaves and is stomped on by army boots when the body of soldiers enters the building by breaking the door with their eyes aflame. 
• This could be completely wrong, as it is just a guess, but maybe Mr. Husband is an army deserter who the soldiers have come to take to a court marshal? It couldn't be conscription as the the British army only officially started conscripting in modern times from 1916-1919 and from 1936-1960 and we know that the poem can't be set in either of these times because the soldiers are described as being "scarlet", meanting that they must be wearing the red coats of the British army pre-1914.
• The poem features call and response, with the first half of every stanza, excluding nine, being said by one person before the responce of another in the final half.
• The use of "O" at the beggining of every stanza implys romantic poetry, which this certainly isn't. "O" may also be interpreted as an expression of tension

Final thought:

In stanza nine, after "it" (the army? evil? forces beond her control?) breaks into the building, Mrs. Wife speaks of their "boots" and their "eyes". These wouldn't be the most notable things about the bright red coated soldiers, surely? Why are the coats not described whereas the eyes and boots are?